Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation is all set to revise property tax from the ongoing financial year. The property tax hike will affect about 21 lakh commercial and residential properties in the city. The corporation has completed the modalities and would issue a notification soon.
According to highly placed sources, the corporation had completed the property tax revision immediately after the GHMC elections in 2016. The process includes evaluation of annual rental value which would be done locality wise and identification of properties situated on the main roads and internal roads.
A draft notification is sent out, inviting suggestions and objections from residents. After this, the matter is placed before the GHMC standing committee.
After its approval, the draft notification is referred to the GHMC general body. This would be a formality as members have already agreed to the proposal to hike property tax
A senior GHMC official said property tax for residential properties had not been revised for more than 15 years and was last revised for commercial properties in 2007. He said as per the rules, the property tax has to be revised once in five years.
After getting the nod from the state government, the corporation will conduct a survey of residential and commercial properties armed with Google Maps and Census information.
The officer said the GHMC was looking to increase property tax to overcome its financial crisis and take up the government's flagship programmes, including the Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP) and construction of about one lakh 2BHK houses. He said that even though the 2BHK housing project is funded by the government, it has asked the civic body to bear the infrastructure cost.
“Though the rental value of several properties in most areas have increased by at least five times, the residential property owners are still paying the old rates. It has been found that most of the properties are either un-assessed or under-assessed”, the official added.
The official hinted that the tax revision will happen after the conclusion of the Lok Sabha elections.
